Five Common Mistakes: How Not To Characterize Our Work

1. Incorrect: "The Global Integrity Index measures corruption in countries."
   Global Integrity does not measure corruption. Rather than attempt to measure the "cancer" of corruption, the Global Integrity Index rates the quality of the "medicine" being applied to fight it: good governance and anti-corruption mechanisms. The Index (and the Integrity Indicators that are the source data for the Index) quantitatively and qualitatively assess good governance and anti-corruption mechanisms. Countries that score well on the Global Integrity Index can and do still experience damaging, high-profile cases of corruption and abuses of power. Scandals can signal that certain anti-corruption mechanisms are indeed performing as they should by bringing corrupt behavior into public view.
2. Incorrect: "Global Integrity staff scores countries on various anti-corruption/good governance mechanisms."
   Not exactly. Global Integrity does not directly assign scores to any of the 23 sub-categories (e.g. "Procurement") or six top-level categories (e.g. "Government Accountability") that we cover for each country. Those scores are simply the aggregation of dozens of more specific indicators that are scored by the in-country experts with whom we collaborate. In other words, the higher-level ratings are merely the sum of their parts: the Integrity Indicator scores, which are produced by teams of local experts.
3. Incorrect: "Global Integrity is a good governance advocacy organization."
   Not precisely; we are an information provider and not a lobbying organization. While we target advocates as a key audience for our work, we do not engage in any direct lobbying campaigns.
4. Incorrect: "Global Integrity scores countries on Western ideals of good governance."
   Not at all. A close reading of our indicators and their unique scoring criteria shows that we allow for a myriad of alternative, informal anti-corruption practices that may be unique to a particular country or region. While we believe that the basic principles of transparency and accountability are universal, we recognize that they can manifest themselves through a variety of culturally- and historically-unique mechanisms that may differ from one country to the next.
5. Incorrect: "The Global Integrity Index is a poll of levels of corruption."
   Wrong on two fronts. First, the Index (and the country reports that feed into it) does not measure corruption – see #1 above. Second, we do not employ polls in generating our country data or the Global Integrity Index. Instead, we rely on the research and reporting of in-country governance experts who employ a consistent research methodology in every country that we cover.